


Misplaced, Not Forgotten

by stuffandsundry



Series: Suit of Swords, Suit of Cups [1]
Category: Persona 5
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Spoilers for Endgame, Unreliable Narrator
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-24
Updated: 2017-09-23
Packaged: 2018-12-19 07:46:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 10,641
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11893209
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stuffandsundry/pseuds/stuffandsundry
Summary: Generally, it's a pretty good rule of thumb to not call someone dead until you see the body.(Or: a rewrite of the end of Persona 5, starting from the end of the 7th Palace)





	1. Chapter 1

Here’s some food for thought:

Ryuji’s fastest 100-meter dash time, back when he was the star of the track team, was 11.02 seconds. Which, you know… it’s not bad. Actually, it’s pretty effin’ good. If he’d kept it up, if none of that shit that happened to him happened then maybe, one day he coulda… But he didn’t, and it did, and in the end being proud of a shitty number that he’d never reach again just seemed kinda stupid. Especially ever since he’d met Akira, who’d been pulled and had pulled him in turn into the whole Phantom Thief thing. Compared to stealing hearts, track just… felt so small.

And on _that_ note—  

Ryuji’s 100-meter dash time in Mementos is _seven seconds even_.

(They’d been waiting, bored out of their minds, for Akira to stop staring into space near the entrance when someone— maybe Morgana?— had suggested a race.  Futaba’d measured out the track and kept the time, cheering them all on, and Ryuji hadn't been thinking about the track team, or his leg, or anything but getting' ahead of Makoto _effin' hell she's fast!_ When he'd won, it had felt… good, in a way that running hadn't felt for him in a long time. And when Futaba'd told him his time it made sense in the moment, he'd _thought_ he'd run super well, and of-freakin-course his time would be real good, yeah?)

Yeah, it would… except for the fact that a seven second time for the 100-meter dash is literally impossible. He’d checked later, on a whim. The current world record is 9.58 seconds.

That’s the moment that all that shit that Morgana said about “cognition” and whatever finally clicked for Ryuji. In the Metaverse…you don’t hafta think about if you can do something or not ‘cause then what if you start thinking that hey, maybe you were wrong, and this was a bad idea, and you can’t actually do the thing. You just… gotta do it. Like running, back when he did that at meets. You can’t worry about whether or not you’ll do good, or what the other runners are thinking. You gotta clear your mind. And just _run_.

And here, on this sinking cruise liner, with the lever for the lifeboat _way_ further than 100 meters away across water and up a really freakin’ steep incline, Ryuji knows exactly what he needs to do.

It feels like his feet barely touch the ground. It feels like flying. There’s nothing but him and his goal and the space in between, and his bum leg starts hurting halfway through but somehow it’s just a distant concern at that moment and he jumps and between heartbeats his hands curl around the lever and the boat starts slowly swinging around and he can hear his team cheering and it’s the best feeling _ever_. He did it. They’re going to make it.

He's looking at his friends on the little motorboat, arms starting to complain just a bit, when the world falls a p a r t.

* * *

 

When Ryuji comes to, he’s facedown on the ground and he hurts all over, like he'd been knocked out in a battle. It takes a minute for him to remember what happened. Boat. Running. Boom. _Ow_. He rubs his face and ah gross that was a mistake his gloves are all covered in salt and mud an— hold up.

…Why’s he still in his thief costume? He looks around frantically and _hokay that’s weird everything is weird what the shit_. It’s hard to describe what he’s looking at. It’s not the underwater Tokyo they’d seen from Shido’s Palace, but it definitely isn't the street outside of the Diet Building either. It looks like… a screwy mixture of the two. A very waterlogged Tokyo after a disaster, fixing itself. Literally fixing itself, actually. In the distance, a bent skyscraper silhouetted against a red sky straightens itself out with a creaking and rumbling like someone cracking their back but a million times louder. Ryuji’s definitely not in the real world. Is this… is this what the Metaverse looks like right after a palace has collapsed?

Wait, but if he's here in the Metaverse then where's everyone else?

Ryuji looks around frantically. "…Guys? Hey, anyone here?"

There's no response. Ryuji props himself up with his weapon, takes a deep breath, and yells even louder. "HEY!! I SAID, IS ANYONE HERE? THIS AIN'T FUNNY, GUYS!"

He listens, closely. Nothing for a few second, but then he hears a clatter of falling rubble behind him. It’s gotta be his teammates. Ryuji whirls around, ready to give everybody a piece of his mind— _ah shit Kurama Tengu abort abort abort_.

Damn it, what are Shadows doing here? There aren't supposed to be any of those running around outside of Palaces or Mementos!

The Shadows have definitely noticed him— of course they did, why the hell was he yelling so damn loud earlier? Stupid!— and there's no way he'll be able to hide. Honestly speaking, Ryuji's fought this enemy before and they shouldn't be a problem, not really. Well-rested, he could probably take one on and scrape by. But there are two of them, and wind skills always knock him flat on his ass, and he's tired as hell and alone. There's nobody here to help him. He could die here.

…Damn. Now that he's thinking about it, it really does kinda seem like he might bite the dust here. Ryuji grits his teeth, and takes a battle stance. If this is it for him, he's gonna try take at least _one_ of them down—

"PERSONA!"

—with him— huh?!?

Brilliant white light encircles and strikes both the Kurama Tengu. He's seen that skill before, what the— Akira?

"Are you going to stand there like an idiot, or are you going to kill those Shadows? _Get moving!_ "

That voice… not Akira. _Definitely_ not Akira. Even as Ryuji's body moves instinctively to strike down one of the Shadows, his mind is blank in shock. It can't be who he thinks it is, can it?

With the tide of battle changed in his favor, Ryuji makes quick work of the two enemies. He turns to look at his unexpected savior, who’s somehow both exactly who he’d thought he’d heard and also literally the last person he would have ever expected.

“What the hell,” Ryuji says in disbelief. “ _Akechi?!?_ ”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been yelling about Akechi on Tumblr for some time now I guess it's time to put my money where my mouth is lmao. Let's see if I can pull this off. I did say that I had a potential continuation to Lost at Sea, so uh, surprise! I actually followed through for once! (Seriously, tho, school is starting in three days and I'm probably gonna have to do actual research for this so don't expect fast updates BUT YEAH I'M! EXCITED! I GOT IDEAS!!)


	2. Chapter 2

Goro Akechi doesn't quite know how everything had gone so wrong, so quickly. The Phantom Thieves had been disbanded. Their leader, captured and executed by his own hand. He'd visited Shido's Palace on nothing more than a suspicious call and a whim, and he hadn't expected to actually find anything wrong. The rest of them shouldn't have been able to do anything without Joker, after all. Goro's victory should have been secure.

And yet… there he was.

Joker. _Alive_.

When Goro had spotted him from his perch half-hidden amongst the engine room pipes, he'd barely suppressed the urge to just shoot that damn thief in the back of the head right then and there. Because of- _fucking_ -course Joker was alive when Goro had gone to such lengths to kill him. When had a single thing ever gone his way in the past? He should have made sure to find his corpse in the morgue and shoot him again just to make sure. Damn him. How _dare_ he? How dare he be so—

_Deep breaths. Keep your cool._

No. It wasn't that bad. Joker's survival changed nothing. Goro just had to take care of the Phantom Thieves right now, before they could do any more damage. They were certainly all tired out from the fight against the cleaner. He'd…He'd just have to kill them.

It'd be a shame, after he'd expended the extra effort to spare the other members of the team from Shido's attention, but at this point… at this point, they were nothing but an obstacle that had to be corrected posthaste. Of course.

An uncomfortable feeling flutters in Goro's chest, but he pushes it back down firmly. There's no room for regret anymore. The election is in less than a week. Goro's retribution is so close that he can taste it, and even if he— No. He can't let them take this from him. Shido is _his_.

Goro shifts from one leg to the other, the pipes around him creaking slightly. Below, Joker's head whips upward, and Goro curses internally.

Damn it. He'd been hoping to get a clean shot off while none of them knew he was here.

Well, this could work too. The least he could do, at this point, is let Joker die knowing who killed him, and why. No more masks, no more lies. This would be the end for the Phantom Thieves.

* * *

 

"Nice job, Joker!" Oracle cheers as Akira slides just out of the range of another attack. Goro wants to scream. This battle shouldn't be this _hard_. But there are eight of them and only one of him, and they keep healing each other at every given opportunity— standard tactics for the Phantom Thieves, he shouldn't have forgotten that so soon. Whatever. They only do it because they can't fight by themselves, so it won't matter when he wins in the end. It's such a fucking bitch to fight though, and he can't keep this up forever—

"Ghk!" Pain blossoms on Goro's side while he's distracted. He stumbles back, and drops to his knees. And that's that. The battle's over.

He lost.

Any pain that Goro might be feeling is wholly eclipsed by his humiliation. How could he have just been defeated like that? The Phantom Thieves are talking at him now, offering him some trite fucking bullshit about friendship and self-reflection and how they're all on the same side, really, but all Goro can think about is how it's not fucking fair.

How'd he do it? What did he have that Goro didn't? He wants to scream at them all, can't they see how absolutely bullshit this was?

It's not fair.

It's not _fair_.

itsnotfairitsnotfa _iritsn_ ** _o_** **tf** ** _a_** **irit** sn _Otfa_ ** _IR_ **

…

Things get a little hazy after that.

* * *

 

When Goro blinks back into consciousness, he's on the floor for the second time that day. He can barely muster up the energy to stand up again.

He's done everything he could. He can't win. No matter what he does. He won't win.

…It's a testament to how worn out he is that the admission of his complete defeat costs him hardly anything to make.

He's so tired.

His life is over, isn't it? There's no way that the Phantom Thieves will just let him go.

One week until the election.

He'd been so, so _close_.

The Phantom Thieves are still trying to talk to him. Even now? _Why?_ And maybe Goro'd hit his head or something during the last fight, because he seriously starts considering what they're saying. Would it be that bad to team up with them one last time? As long as he could witness Shido's demise with his own two eyes… wouldn't that be enough? It could be, he thinks. If he could—

Of course, this is when Shido's cognitive version of Goro shows up, because the universe just loves kicking Goro when he's already down. He'd avoided entering Shido's Palace until today for this very reason, honestly. He couldn’t stand to know what Shido actually thought of him. And what did it matter anyways, when he'd been planning to tear that son of a bitch to the ground from the beginning?

Stupid. Goro should have seen this coming from a mile away. It shouldn’t even feel like a betrayal. It's just one thing after another, is it? He's failed, he never had a chance from the beginning, yes yes yes he knows that now, alright? Fuck _everything_!

There's really only choice he has left, at this point. He can take care of this by himself, or he can let the Phantom Thieves do it. And when he puts it like that, it's really no choice at all. Detective Prince Goro Akechi has, after all, always worked alone.

Goro raises his gun and points it at Joker. The cognition holding its own weapon at his head crows in victory, and the Phantom Thieves seem too shocked to move, but he's not focusing on either of them. No, what he's looking for is—

There, outlined in yellow and black. That must be the control for the bulkhead partition. Quick as lightning, he turns and shoots the cognition. While it's doubled over, he takes aim for the control. Good thing the Phantom Thieves had all been standing just on the other side of the wall. The last he sees of them is their stunned faces as grey metal seals him off from the world.

Alone, Goro faces 'himself', this awful puppet with its face twisted in hate and contempt. He's beaten and sore, and he's just cut off his only route of potential help. Truthfully speaking, at this point the only thing keeping him on his feet is adrenaline and spite. But if this was it for him, if his defeat had already been so set in stone… then he'd at least die spitting in Shido's face. He’d die knowing that the Phantom Thieves would ruin his father. It’d be a quicker death than rotting away in some prison.

Both Goro and the cognition raise their guns in tandem and he closes his eyes—

( _"…I see that you've been defeated by the Trickster. Hmph. While that is not a surprise, by any means, I had held some modicum of hope for your victory."_

_"What the— who are you?!? What is this place?"_

_"And yet, I do not believe that the power I invested in you was a complete waste. The ability to incite psychotic breakdowns… yes, I do believe I could find a use for you."_

_"Wh— invested in…? No, I don't have the time for this kind of cryptic bullshit right now! Explain, or else—”_

_"Well, it is of little concern at the present. If that one falls before these final hurdles, then this contingency should be wholly unnecessary. After all, you can be disposed of at any time—”_

_"Don't ignore me, you bastard—”_

_"But for now, I think_ this _might be for the best."_ )

— only to open them on … on the Metaverse? (no, that's not right, he'd been in—) There was no mistaking it. He'd opened his eyes and seen the streets of Tokyo, devoid of life, with a red-tinted sky turning even mundane shadows unsettling. What else could it have been?

His first thought had been to get out. He was alive and unhurt, somehow. This was a second chance, and he wasn't about to waste it by staying in the Metaverse forever. Goro frowned. Returning to the real world, however, would bring a whole suite of problems with it. Should he go to Sae and act like nothing was wrong, or even try to convince her to stay on his side? Risky. She might listen to Makoto over him. Should he go back to Shido's base and see whether or not the Phantom Thieves had changed Shido's heart? Should… should he go back to the Phantom Thieves, and throw himself on their mercy…?

No.

No, absolutely not. Let them think that he's dead. He doesn't— he won't have them look at him like that any more, like he's something to be fucking _pitied_. But if not them, then who…

Mind whirling with questions and plans, Goro absently pressed the Metaverse Nav with his off hand and prepared to reenter th—

Huh?

He pressed the—

He looked at his phone.

The app was gone.

Where'd it go? That's… did he delete it by accident? Was this a byproduct of some kind of tampering that had been done to his phone?

Or was it truly gone, by the same whim that had caused it to appear for him in the first place years ago?

…

Was he stranded?

Goro quashed that thought before it could blossom into panic. No. No, of course he wasn't stranded, that was a stupid thought. The Nav was gone. Alright. He could still work around that. He'd just have to…

Damn it. If his Metaverse Nav was gone, then he truly would have to rely on the mercy of the Phantom Thieves.

He hated the thought with every fiber of his being. After all, what kind of person showed up five minutes after their death to ask for a ride home? It was _embarrassing_. But on the other hand, he'd never stayed in the Metaverse for longer than a day, and some deep rooted instinct told him that that would be a terrible idea. Goro heard a distant crashing noise and whipped his head around— what was that? Shit.

Who— or what— else was here? Were Shadows lurking around the area? He stayed tense for a moment, but heard nothing else out of the usual.

It must have been his imagination.

Goro shook his head in disgust. Look at him, jumping at shadows. Pathetic. If he stayed here alone any longer, he just might go insane. It was clear that he needed to find Shido's Palace, and consequently the Phantom Thieves, as soon as possible. The scenery around him might have been disturbing, but it was also familiar if he thought about it. If that cafe over there was the same one that he remembered in the real world, then the Palace must be…

This way.

Goro started walking.

* * *

 

The ship wasn’t there. Instead, the Diet building loomed, slightly dilapidated but unmistakable. Goro’s heart sank as he approached it.

How did— they couldn't have possibly stolen the treasure so soon.

Could they?

No, it'd only been a few minutes, an hour at most, surely. Maybe he was doing this wrong. Did he have to enter the Palace using the Nav specifically, instead of walking through the general Metaverse? No, he didn't have any evidence to substantiate that theory… Was this the Metaverse at all? Or just some kind of fucked up afterlife for murderers? What the hell was going on? No matter which way he looked at it, Goro could only circle back to one conclusion...

He was truly alone here.

Nobody would coming for him.

Shit. Shit, shit, shit. Fuck!

He’s going to die trapped here, he's going to die by inches, this isn't how he wanted it to go—

Panic like a trapped animal is clawing out of his chest, and the blood is pounding in his ears so loudly that he doesn't even register the commotion coming from the other side of the building at first.

"HEY!! I SAID, IS ANYONE HERE? THIS AIN'T FUNNY, GUYS!" The shout's so loud it echoes.

_There's somebody else in here._

Goro runs in the direction of the voice, not even caring who it belongs to. Please, don't let him be alone in here…!

He rounds the corner and sees movement. Across the street, on the grass, two of the birdmen enemies from Shido's Palace are facing off against a familiar figure.

It's Skull.

But why was he fighting by himself?

That could wait for later— the Phantom Thief is clearly outnumbered. If Goro wants to make him more amenable to cooperation, then lending a hand at this juncture could only help his cause. Robin Hood stirs beneath the surface of his mind.

"PERSONA!"

Light slams down on both enemies. But instead of following through with his assault, Skull stumbles to a confused halt. Goro grits his teeth. What the hell was he doing? The enemies _were right there_. "Are you going to stand there like an idiot, or are you going to kill those Shadows? _Get moving!_ "

The other teen is prodded out of his stupor by Goro's sharp tone, and starts attacking. Both Shadows had been severely injured by Goro's attack, and Skull takes them out in a matter of minutes. He turns to face Goro.

There's a beat of awkward silence.

Now that the battle's over, Goro realizes that he hadn't planned out anything to say to Skull. The last time he'd seen him, after all, he'd been trying his damnedest to carve Joker's heart out with a sword. And if he'd failed, it certainly wasn't for lack of _trying_ on his end. What kind of tone should he take, to convince the Phantom Thief to help him out even after all of that?

"What the hell, _Akechi?!?_ Holy shit, are you for real? You're dead." Skull's got an expression of slack-jawed incredulity plastered on his face, and he starts patting himself down in alarm. "Wait, does this mean I'm dead too?"

All hesitant uncertainty evaporates from Goro's mind as he wrinkles his nose in disdain. Ah. He'd forgotten that Skull was a complete moron. "Really, is that how you talk to someone who just saved your life?"

Skull scowls. "Hey, jackass, I didn't ask for your help! Anyways, I asked you a question, dammit!"

Goro ignores him, and starts scanning the area. "Where are the others?"

"The hell do you mean, where are the others?" Skull lowers his weapon and scratches the back of his head. "Ain't they around here somewhere?"

Strange. Why didn't Skull know where his team was? How had they been separated? Goro shook his head. "Forget I asked, then. Can you take us out of the Metaverse?"

"Tch. Don't think that you're off the hook, man," Skull grouses as he starts searching his pockets. "Even if I don't think you're evil, you've still got some shit to answer for. I'm taking you straight to Niijima-san, you got that?"

Skull  finds his phone and pulls it out triumphantly before Goro can answer him. The screen comes flying off. "Oh, shit."

Goro understands the sentiment. Skull's phone has been _totaled_.

"It must have been the explosion. Dammit, I knew this was too good to be true!"

…Explosion? What on earth had the Phantom Thieves been _doing_? No, that wasn't important right now.

"We really are trapped here, then." Goro muses out loud. Just saying it sends a shiver down his spine.

"For real?" Skull squawks. "Wait, what happened to _your_ phone?"

"…The app's gone." Goro confesses, somewhat unwillingly. Skull swears.

“Damn it! No, there’s gotta be something…!” Skull starts pacing, as Goro watches. He’s not sure what the blonde is trying to accomplish. Does he really think that Goro hasn’t thought about this at all? There’s no way for the two of them to get out on their own—

“Mementos! Holy shit, I totally forget about Mementos!”

Goro narrows his eyes. “Explain.”

"Well, I mean…" Skull scratches the back of his head. "We could head for the entrance to Mementos, yeah? Shido's been taken care of and all, but that doesn't mean that requests will stop coming in through the Phansite. We could stay near the entrance so Joker and the others will be sure to find us whenever they come through, and then we’re home free."

That's… huh. That's not a bad idea. Goro nods, slowly. "I see. That idea does seem to have some merit to it." Walking from the Diet building to Shibuya Station Square… it would be about three miles, maybe? Doable.

However, there was still the question of the Shadows. If more of them appeared, it could be troublesome to handle by himself. Additionally, once he'd reached Mementos, there was no guarantee that Joker and the others would not attack him on sight, unless…

Goro turned to face Skull with a smile. "Very well. I'll accompany you there, then."

"Whoawhoawhoa, what?!? I didn't agree to _that_!" The Phantom Thief protests.

Goro rolls his eyes. As always, Skull is as dense as his moniker suggests. Why couldn't he have been stuck here with Queen, or Oracle? "What are you going to do if you get cornered by Shadows again? I'll cover your weaknesses, and vice versa." The other teen still looks unconvinced. Goro presses on. "If it makes you feel any better, this is simply a mutually beneficial arrangement. Neither of us have to _like_ each other to work together."

Skull waffles a bit longer, but finally sighs in defeat. "Eff this. I guess I can't let you go runnin' off by yourself, anyways."

Goro smiles his practiced television smile. "Excellent. Now, shall we get going?"

"You know this area better than I do. Lead the way, Detective Hotcakes." Skull crosses his arms and smirks at him.

…Goro's left eye twitches involuntarily.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oh my god why do i do this to myself goro pov is a bitch and a half to write  
> ...Well, hello again? TBH this is far, faaaar earlier than I thought that I'd have this finished, considering it's like three times the length of the last one and is from the viewpoint of a character I have no confidence in my voice for.  
> I've always had the impression that what Goro says and what Goro means are like, vastly different things, always. Like a sales associate during Christmas shopping season whos _thiiiis_ close to dropping the smile and going for some idiot's throat, and insecure and arrogant in equal measures. God, this kid needs some help. I hope that at least some of this comes through?  
>  Well, thanks for reading!!!


	3. Chapter 3

Ryuji smiles like a dumbass at Akechi and hopes to hell that he's making the right decision.

He hasn't forgotten what Akechi's done— far from it. He knows that the guy is damned _dangerous_. And if it really came down to it, Ryuji probably couldn't take him in a fight. What he should be doing is hightailing it the eff outta there, honestly. The more distance between him and the detective the better.

But on the other hand… Akechi, he's… damn it, Ryuji doesn't really have the words for what he feels. It's sorta pity, but also not really? It's like this— as much as he hates to admit it, he kinda gets where the dude's coming from. Not the whole murder thing, or working for the guy who you hate most in the world in order to betray him later part. That's still sorta stupid. But if Ryuji'd had the opportunity… if he'd been the one who'd gotten the app years ago, would he have been able to resist the temptation to go into the Metaverse and beat the shit outta his asshole dad just 'cause he could?

He doesn't know. And that scares him.

He wonders what would it feel like, to get backed into a corner that bad. To know that you'd made such an amazingly shitty series of decisions over the course of your life the you ended up killing people for someone you hate, and to have it literally all be for nothing in the end.

So.

Maybe this team up is a mistake. Maybe Ryuji's just doing this out of some stupid misplaced pity or something.

Even so…

He's not going to leave Akechi by himself.

Okay, now that being said! The dude's still kind of a pompous ass. So it's not as if Ryuji's gonna suddenly become a pushover all of a sudden or whatever just 'cause he feels sorry for him. Shit, how's he gonna get all of that across without actually sayin' it, though…hm. Okay.

Ryuji grins at Akechi and puts his weapon down so there's nothing in his hands. "You know this area better than I do. Lead the way, Detective Hotcakes." _Nailed. It_.

Akechi just kinda does the same why-me sigh that Makoto does sometimes and starts walking. "The fastest way from here to Shibuya is via the expressways. It should take us an hour or so to get there on foot."

"Eh? Oh. Alright then." Well, if he's being all down to business here, then Ryuji figures he shouldn't dick around either. He stretches, wincing at the cracking sound his spine makes, and rests his bat on his shoulder as he keeps pace with Akechi. "You know the area pretty well, yeah?"

"To be fair, I've never tried to walk from work to Shibuya." Akechi admits. "But I'm fairly certain that I know the way, yes. Don't you?"

"Uh. Nnno? I don't usually go runnin' on expressways, you know? 'Sides," Ryuji adds, "that's what GPS is for."

"Hm. I see." Goro doesn't say anything else, but it's pretty clear what the silence is supposed to imply anyways. Jeez, rude much?

Ryuji sighs. This was getting off to a great start already. Well, if Akechi isn't up for conversation, then Ryuji's got nothing to do as he's walking. So he takes the time to really take a good long look at the Metaverse proper. The influence that Shido's Palace had had on the Metaverse is still everywhere, even though it's clearly fading, a little bit at a time.

...Maybe it's a little weird of him, but he's way more comfortable in the Metaverse right now than he was back when he'd been scouting the place out with the rest of the Phantom Thieves for Operation Get Joker Out of Jail. Back then, the Metaverse had been _exactly_ like Tokyo, except empty. It was just… freaky. Every little noise seemed amplified tenfold, and whenever he'd seen movement outta the corner of his eye his heart would skip a beat, even if it just turned out to be his imagination. It was… uh, what's the word… hill, canyon? Shit, wait. Valley! Yeah, uncanny valley, that's it. Right now, with the sky still kinda effed up and red, and all the streets torn up and soggy, the place reminds Ryuji more of Mementos than the Metaverse, honestly. So Ryuji knows this place ain't right, and he _knows_ that this place ain't right, if that makes sense. Hell, if there were Shadows around the next corner, he wouldn't be surprised, really.

As if Ryuji had summoned them with his thoughts, he hears the _clompclompclomp_ of footsteps. Shadows. Akechi stops walking and looks around.  “We don’t want to fight whatever that is. Let’s hide in that alley,” he explains.

Well, duh. Ryuji’s not stupid. But he bites his tongue and says nothing, as he follows Akechi. It’s only a minute or so before the Shadows come into view.

...Holy _shit_ that’s a lot of Shadows. It’s like some kinda effed up parade.

"Hmm… It looks like the majority of the Shadows are headed towards Mementos, just as we are." Akechi brushes some imaginary dirt off his arm as he speaks.

Ryuji frowns and leans back on the alley wall, crossing his arms. "Yeah, no shit man. I got eyes. Looks like we'll have to be careful if we wanna go the direct route."

"On the bright side," Akechi adds with a smile, "I, personally, didn't encounter any on my way here, until I arrived to lend you a hand. So I think it's safe to assume that Shadows won't attack us if we don't attack them."

"I dunno about that. _I_ wasn't attacking anybody." Ryuji points out.

"I'm not so sure about that." Akechi smiles. "One might consider your very presence an attack on the ears, after all." Never mind, that's totally a smirk.

Ryuji huffs. "Okay then, what are we gonna do now, though? Keep going?" Ryuji wants to reach a safe zone as soon as possible, 'cause goddamn if he isn't feeling the aftereffects of the explosion and the fight against Shido right now. Frickin' leg is probably swelling again from the shit he pulled. It feels too hot.

“If you think we can make it, then yes.”

Ryuji smiles with a confidence that he doesn’t feel. “Heh. I could do this all day. Bring it.”

* * *

 

They make it two blocks.

There's hardly any cover on the roads, and once they accidentally attract the attention of one group of Shadows, it becomes very, very clear that Akechi’s assumption that the Shadows would ignore them was _dead wrong_.

More and more Shadows that are drawn to the noise of battle.

Instead of moving forward, they keep getting pushed back. It's pissing Ryuji off. They're not getting anywhere like this.

His hands are trembling, and his knee is on fire.

Ryuji doesn’t want to admit it, but if he stops for a rest, he doesn't know if he'll be able to stand back up again. But Akechi, that asshole, is still mowing down Shadows like nobody's business. Ryuji's not gonna be dead weight. He grits his teeth and pushes forward. If he can take one more step, then he can take another after that, and another, and he's within reach of a Shadow now so gotta hit it, and he can do this, just a little. Bit. More. Ryuji's whole world narrows down to one moment at a time. Static rushes in his ears and fills his lungs, but he has to, has to—

Something grabs Ryuji by the elbow and yanks him off balance. He stumbles into someone. Wha—?

"—ll. Skull! Are you alright?" Oh. Akechi.

Ryuji takes a look around. He can’t see any more Shadows. The battle must be over. That’s… good.

God, everything hurts. It it just Ryuji, or is the ground actually tilting slowly…?

“Skull! Get it together!” Akechi looks over him critically, and Ryuji's suddenly aware of how gross he must be. "You're not getting anywhere like this. We'll have to find a place to rest for now."

Ryuji's first instinct is to protest that he's totally fine, but then he tries to stand up straight and hhaughgffFUCK, BAD IDEA. BAD IDEA. His vision goes white, and has to grab onto Akechi’s shoulder just to stay upright. _Shit_ , his leg is so busted. At least he’s completely lucid now.

"Yeah, I don’t— I don’t have any complaints ‘bout that." Ryuji gasps out breathlessly.

Akechi frowns, and then wordlessly slings Ryuji’s arm over his shoulder. “We can break into one of these buildings and rest for a while in there.” He sighs kinda disdainfully. “Honestly, what on _earth_ were you doing?”

Ryuji grins wobbily. “Hey, you should see the other guy.” Yeah, they'd gotten Shido pretty good, huh? And then his smile slips because he remembers—

_“Let’s make a deal...ok?”_

_“You won’t say no… will you?”_

_“Change Shido’s heart… in my stead...End his crimes…”_

_“Please...!”_

“We kept our promise, you know.” Akechi starts a little bit, as Ryuji talks. “Shido’s gonna confess his sins to everybody. He’s not coming back from this one.”

Akechi's gait falters for a heartbeat. His shoulders are tense under Ryuji's arm, as he starts walking again. “ _Good_.”

The two of them limp slowly and silently down the block until they reach a hotel. Akechi tries the side door. It’s unlocked, which gives Ryuji a bad feeling. “You sure it’s safe?”

“We don’t exactly have options here, Skull.” Shit, he’s got a point. Akechi awkwardly maneuvers the two of them through the tight, dark corridor. Every time Ryuji’s leg bumps into something, sparks go off in his vision. He grits his teeth. Just a little bit longer…

They make it to the reception area, and oh thank god there’s a couch in here. Ryuji slumps into it bonelessly. He stretches his leg out in front of him onto the coffee table, and prods it with his fingers. It’s pretty hard to see in the dim red light filtered through the windows, but his leg had definitely swelled up now. He’s not going anywhere like this.

Akechi comes back downstairs with an armful of fresh linens. Ryuji hadn’t even noticed him go up there in the first place. “Every room in this building is unlocked, for some reason. But there don’t seem to be any inhabitants, so I guess we'll just have to hope we’ll be safe here. Are you alright with that?”

Ryuji's already halfway asleep. "Yeah that's," he yawns, "fffffine with me. You better stay right here though, 'kay?"

Akechi just smiles at him.

(Ryuji thinks he's dreaming, when Akechi takes a seat in the couch, seconds or minutes or hours later.

"Stay here, huh? What a stupid thing to ask." Akechi's expression isn't visible. "After all, where else is there for me to go?"

He sounds… something. Sad, and something else that Ryuji can’t name.

Well, it's just a dream, anyways. Ryuji’s already forgotten about it by the time he wakes up.)

* * *

 

Ryuji blinks awake slowly. He’s got a crick in his neck and there’s a warm weight at his side. Shit, did he fall asleep in the living room again? Aw, man, if he’d slept through his alarm again Takahashi-sensei was gonna kill him—

This isn’t his living room couch. _Where the hell was he_.

Ryuji tries to jolts upright, but there’s something pressed to his side— it’s too dark and he can’t see shit, damn it—  

He hears a soft snore and freezes.

No _effin’_ way.

He carefully reaches over and brushes some kinda braided fabric. Holy _shit_. Akechi’d fallen asleep on top of him.

...Wow. This was kinda awkward.

Huh. Maybe Akechi had been just as tired as Ryuji, and was just better at hiding it?

Well, in any case, Ryuji probably shouldn’t wake him up. As carefully as he can, he pushes Akechi off of him and leans him against the arm of the couch. Akechi shifts a little bit, but keeps sleeping. Ryuji breathes out a sigh of relief. Then, he leans forwards, pressing down on his leg carefully to check for pain. Hm. Better than yesterday, but he probably shouldn’t run or fight on it. It’s still way better than Ryuji expected it to be, though. Healing fast mighta just been a Metaverse thing, now that he'd thought about it. Wouldn't be the weirdest thing to happen here.

Time to see if his leg is good enough to walk on. Ryuji stands up... and almost immediately walks into a lamp. _Thonk_.

“Ow, ffffffff—”

Akechi grumbles, on the couch. Belatedly, Ryuji remembers that he was trying to not wake him. Oops. Stupid lamp.

“Mmmmmngh. I see you’re feeling better now,” Akechi yawns. He stretches, audibly. “Give me a few minutes, and we should go.”

Ryuji blinks in surprise at Akechi’s abruptness. “Wha— you sure, dude? You just woke up.”

Akechi shakes his head. “No, we _need_ to leave. We shouldn’t stay here.”

Maybe it’s just Ryuji’s imagination, but what’s with that weird edge to his voice?

"Yo," Ryuji starts. Then stops, because maybe he shouldn't… ah. Welp, too late, Akechi's looking at him funny now, he might as well just say it. "You look like something's on your mind. What's up?"

"Huh? No…" Akechi shakes his head and smiles unconvincingly. "It's nothing."

Ryuji sets his jaw stubbornly. Okay, it's _clearly not_ nothing. "If it could be important, just say it. Dude, I promise I'm not gonna laugh or anything."

"It was just a dream I had, and nothing more. It doesn’t matter." Akechi deflects.

Ryuji counters. "Well, if it doesn't matter… then it doesn't matter if you tell me then, yeah?" Ha! That made sense, right? Take _that_ , Detective Prince!

Akechi opens his mouth. Closes his mouth. Then he pinches the bridge of his nose with one hand and sighs. "...You’re not going to let this go, are you?"

“Nope!” Ryuji grins.

Akechi buries his head in his hands and groans, but he doesn’t say anything right away.

Ryuji's _this_ close to telling Akechi to get on with it already, seriously, he's not gonna make fun of him for anything really important, when Akechi blurts it all out in a rush.

"What if we're actually dead and we're in the afterlife right now?"

…

Wait _, what._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> YO WASSUP IM BACK ON MY BULLSHIT. god. im screaming theres this part i really wanna get to but noooo, i had to write 2k+ words of characters faffing about doing nothing _why am i like this_. well. at least we're getting character shit? mmmmmmnshjfds. see y'all later i gotta sleep. night!!


	4. Chapter 4

Goro dreams.

He's sitting on a bench in Inokashira Park, and his mother is right next to him. She looks just like Goro remembers her. Her hair is up in a bun, and her makeup is impeccable, as it always was. (The one time Goro had ever seen his mother without makeup on was—)

"I wish it hadn't ended like this." She sighs.

"What do you mean?" Goro's reply is calmer than it should be, he thinks. Everything is very far away.

"Oh, I think you know exactly what I mean. What did you expect to gain from challenging Shido? You can't win against people like him. Couldn't you have learned from my mistakes?"

"I didn't have a choice." Goro defends himself, halfheartedly. He feels like a child caught stealing candy.

"No, you had a choice." She corrects him. "You had _many_ choices. You simply made all the wrong ones. Silly boy."

She brushes his bangs back with one hand, just like she used to when he was very, very young and didn’t understand, and smiles at him. "But it's alright now. I'll make it all better. You'll stay here with me, sweetie, and I'll make sure that you're never in a place where you have to make a decision again."

(Something's wrong.) A feeling not quite alarm sparks down Goro's spine, and the world comes more into focus. His mother…

"You're _dead_." He realizes, belatedly. She's been dead since he was fourteen. This must be a dream. Goro hasn't dreamed about his mother in months, so why now?

"Of course I am. You can just take it easy when you're dead, see? It's pretty nice here." She looks around, and then back at him.

(Something's wrong.)

If she's dead, and he's here, then is she implying— no. No no no no no.

"But _I'm_ not dead." He insists, as if saying it aloud made it more true.

His mother looks at him in genuine curiosity. "Then how did you survive?"

He doesn't know. He doesn't _know_ and that terrifies him, he's been avoiding thinking about it all day because if he didn't survive, then— and she's still just looking at him with that calm face and he hates it, he hates it so so much—

"You know I'm right, don't you? You don't really have anymore choices left right now, sweetheart." She curls up her lips in fond amusement, and something in Goro _snaps_.

"Don’t you dare. You, of all people... You don't get to talk to me about _choices_! Don't you fucking dare! You left me! _You killed yourself_!" Goro's quietly breathless with rage and terror. "You _fucking_ coward! You killed yourself and left me alone, what the hell? You had a choice, but I didn't! I _never_ had a choice! What the fuck was I supposed to _do_?"

"Don't talk to your mother like that." She frowns for the first time, as she chides him gently. (Her face flickers. For a second, Goro gets the impression of wings.) "Besides…" Her voice gets soft, and kind. Almost mockingly so. "Well, I wasn't going to bring this up but… you did have a choice, didn't you? The Phantom Thieves would have helped you. They _offered_ to help, even after all you'd done to them. You could have fought with them."

Goro's fingernails are digging into his palms so hard they might have broken skin.

He can't move.

"No…you chose to die, sweetie. Your pride meant you couldn't handle the thought of losing. So in the end, you're just following in my footsteps, aren't you?" Goro's mother smiles again in a motherly way. She wields that smile like a knife, cutting him wide open and _he can't move_. "I shouldn't really be surprised. I suppose you got that absurd pride from both sides of the family."

Goro flinches, and the spell breaks. Of all things, it _would_ be the implication the she can see Shido in him that snaps Goro out of his stupor. The thought makes him sick. He scrambles up from the bench, and faces her. He's definitely not trembling. "Fuck. Off. Fuck off! I'm going to get the hell out of here, and I'm going to _live_ , because I'm not you! I'm not Shido!" He takes a deep breath and repeats it with vicious fury. "I refuse— I _refuse_ to end up like either of you."

"Truly?"

"Yes."

"Well," his mother closes her eyes and sighs in resignation. " We'll see how long that resolution of yours holds up. You can't say you haven't been warned."

She takes his hand in her hands, gently. Goro lets her, for some goddamn sentimental reason. She looks at him in fond exasperation, like he's still a silly child. Her hands are cold.

Her hands are metal.

Her _claws_ are metal, and they're digging into his wrist _that's not his mother_. And Goro can't get away, he starts scrabbling desperately at her arms but they won't move and her face blooms into a metal mask no, get _away_ —

Something shifts.

And he wakes up.

* * *

 

It's only years and years of habit that keep him from stiffening up and opening his eyes when he jolts awake. Where— What— Who's leaning over him? For one brief second, all Goro sees is the glint of light off a macabre skull and his heart absolutely stops, before he realizes that it's just— well, it's just Skull, with his mask propped up on his forehead. Ryuji. He might as well just use names, at this point. The other teen hasn't realized that he's awake yet.

Akechi watches through lidded eyes as Ryuji starts to poke and prod at his leg. It's easier than trying to think about the incredibly disturbing dream he just had.

…Seriously, though, what on earth was that? Goro hadn't really thought about his mother in _years_. Sure, he talks about her, he's got a little spiel about his tragic home life that he can rattle off for the cameras, but he doesn't dwell on the few memories he had of her. And then the things that she had said…

Goro bites the inside of his mouth, hard. It was just a dream. The eerie atmosphere of the Metaverse, and the stress of fighting must have caused it.

It hadn't felt like a dream.

It had to have been a dream.

Goro isn't _dead_ , if he was, then why would Ryuji be here? Last he'd seen, he had been with the others, and they'd all been just fine.

A small, contrary part of Goro dredges up the conversation they'd had yesterday. He'd said something about an explosion. What if he'd died too?

No, that was stupid, because _neither of them were dead_.

While Goro's going around in endless circles in his own head, Ryuji stands up gingerly, and immediately walks into a lamp. Goro can't stop himself from snorting at the sight, despite himself. Ryuji glances over.

Shit. Oh well, lying down here like this wasn't doing Goro any good either way. He fakes a yawn and stretches dramatically as he sits up.

"I see you're feeling better now." Goro hesitates a half second and adds, "Give me a few minutes, and we should go." It's a bit of an impulse decision on his part, but Goro has a feeling that he shouldn't stay here in the Metaverse any longer. The atmosphere, the Shadows… it's all so stifling, somehow. Goro feels like anxiety is buzzing just underneath his skin. He wants out of here, _now_.

“Wha— you sure, dude? You just woke up.” And now Ryuji's looking at him in alarm, and it irks Goro. _He's_ not the injured one here. What does Ryuji think he's doing?

He snaps at Ryuji. “No, we _need_ to leave. We shouldn’t stay here.”

Ryuji's still looking at him, and there's a particular soft concern to his expression that makes Goro want to kick at him, because it's stupid! He doesn't need anyone's pity right now, everything. Is. _Fine_. Goro presses down his scowl as hard as he can. It's fine.

"You look like something's on your mind. What's up?"

Goro smiles blandly as he fakes confusion and deflects. "Huh? No, It's nothing."

Ryuji crosses his arms and frowns. "If it could be important, just say it. Dude, I promise I'm not gonna laugh or anything."

Why does he care?

"It was just a dream I had, and nothing more. It doesn’t _matter_."

"If it doesn't matter… then it doesn't matter if you tell me then, yeah?" Ryuji's not taking the hint, how the hell is he this dense. Goro pinches the bridge of his nose to stave off the incoming headache. God, he doesn't need this right now. He mutters something under his breath and Ryuji grins in victory, like a stupid fucking puppy. Literally any other member of the Phantom Thieves would have been preferable to this moron. Seriously. _Anyone_ else.

Goro really, really doesn't want to say shit to Ryuji, but somehow, he's got a feeling that he isn't going to move until Goro tells him something more substantial than what he's already offered so far. He's already coming up with vaguely convincing lies in the back of his mind— he'd been kept awake last night by suspicious sounds, he'd gotten injured but hadn't told Ryuji about it, there's a dozen things that he could say. It would be very, very easy to fool Ryuji— he's not exactly _bright_ , after all.

But…

There's a thought caught in the back of his throat, a half-baked notion that keeps him from spouting out a lie. It's just on the tip of his tongue…

( you're just following in my footsteps, aren't you?)

Ah. That... Neither Shido nor his mother had ever really _trusted_ anyone with anything. Ever. And maybe it's a dumb thought, but the idea that Goro's like either of his parents chafes even harder today than it has before.

So. He makes a choice.

* * *

 

Goro blurts it out fast, as if getting it over with would make it any less embarrassing. "What if we're actually dead and we're in the afterlife right now?"

…

…Nope. It's still completely mortifying. Ha ha ha, _shit_. Ryuji is staring at him in blank disbelief, and Goro can feel his cheeks burning. This is a nightmare scenario. He should have chosen his words more carefully, there had to have been a less stupid-sounding way to say that—

"What if we're _what._ " Ryuji says, sounding slightly strangled.

"It's a perfectly reasonable conclusion!" Goro says defensively. He rushes to justify his words, even if he doesn't really believe them (or want to believe them) himself. "You, well…" Goro swallows uncomfortably, and continues. "You remember where you last saw me."

"Oh." Ryuji winces a little. "Y'mean, with the, uh,"

"Yes. Additionally," Goro presses on, "you yourself mentioned that you were caught in an explosion. And in my experience, people don’t walk away from those."

Ryuji looks away and rubs the back of his neck. "Well, we've had worse before… kinda…"

Goro barks out a short laugh. "How much are you willing to bet on it? And besides, if that's the case, where are your so-called friends? Where's your leader? Didn't make it out of the explosion….no. Face it. _You_ didn't make it out alive."

Ryuji starts shifting from side to side nervously. "Okay. I— okay, shit. Shit! I can't really argue with you, and this is really freakin' me out, man. But, uh… honestly… Is it that big of a deal?"

Goro can feel his jaw drop. "Wh— of course it matters if we're dead or not!"

Ryuji holds his hands up in front of him. "Well I mean yeah, I don't wanna be dead! No, I mean like. Uh. Shit. 'Kay, give me a sec."

Goro's curious despite himself, so he waits. Ryuji sits back down on the couch, brows furrowed and one leg going up and down like a jackhammer. He contorts his face through a variety of exaggerated expressions, before finally nodding in satisfaction. "Okay. Okay, I think I got it?"

Goro gestures wordlessly for him to continue.

"So. I don't know how much it matters if we're alive or dead. 'Cause like… this is the Metaverse, yeah? And being… dead and still here ain't the weirdest shit that's happened in the Metaverse, probably? I mean, just look at my leg. I know for sure that if this was in the real world, I would have messed my leg up for good, after yesterday. But it's almost all better right now and that's not… that's not possible."

Ryuji looks away, as he absently grips a knee. "It's not _possible_."

He shakes his head slightly, and plows forwards. "And again! This is the Metaverse we're talkin' about. We know _how_ to get out, right? And we know where to find people who can actually do it. So, the rest of that— like, all that stuff about bein'… dead, I guess? That's… we can worry about that later." Ryuji frowns for a second, and adds, "Unless we aren't actually in the Metaverse. In which case we're maybe kinda screwed. You get me?"

…Huh.

"So what you're proposing…" Goro says, thoughtfully, "is that if we're in the Metaverse, then we can probably get out, and it doesn't matter if we're dead or not. But if we aren't in the Metaverse, then we're doomed either way. And therefore, the crux of the matter right now is not, in fact, how to figure out if we're dead, but rather how to figure out _whether or not we really are in the Metaverse_."

It almost makes sense, when he says it. He's impressed despite himself.

There's still a significant problem, though. "But how do we do that?"

Ryuji brightens up. "Palaces! Palaces are in the Metaverse. We find Palaces, we'll know where we are."

It sounds reasonable.

No…

It sounds _too_ reasonable, too easy. There has to be something they're missing. "No… wait. Supposing that this is the afterlife, who are we to say that dead people don't have Palaces?"

It’s Ryuji’s turn to look at Goro in confusion. "How do you even keep coming up with these things!? Man, I can't tell you the answer to this kinda question! I mean, what proof would you even need to confirm that we're in the Metaverse?" Ryuji snorts in irritation. "Hey, you're supposed to be the detective here, why don't you answer that yourself, dammit!"

Goro rubs his chin thoughtfully, and muses out loud. "It would have to be a Palace that you've visited before. One that we know for sure belongs to someone who's alive, and probably someplace nearby for accessibility, so…"

Goro wracks his brain and… he comes up with nothing. There's no Palace that fulfills those requirements.

Which means that this whole rigmarole was all baseless supposition, and an enormous waste of their time. The realization makes Goro snappish again. He make an irritated sound in the back of his throat. "You know what? We've already wasted enough time here. I apologize for saying anything at all, it was just a moronic theory in the first place, I agree, we aren't dead we should just _go_." He spins on one heel and heads for the exit to the lobby, leaving Ryuji left scrambling to follow.

"Wh— hey, wait up!"

Goro doesn't stop walking until Ryuji grabs him by the shoulder and spins him around, half a block down the road. "You jackass, I said wait up!"

Goro bats Ryuji's hand away. "We can't—"

"Yeah, okay, but we could!"

Goro blinks. "What?"

Ryuji starts listing things off on his fingers. "Nearby Palace. One we've visited before. Belongs to someone still alive, as far as I know." He grins at Goro and shoves his hands through the loops of his belt. "I know a place like that. N' so do you, actually."

"What?" Goro repeats.

"The Casino, duh." Ryuji sounds so proud of himself, in contrast to Goro's utter confusion.

"No, that won't work. You stole the treasure… from…" _Oh_. Goro feels like punching a wall. "You didn't take the treasure, did you."

"Nah. The briefcase thing we took wasn't the real treasure, so the Palace should still be up."

They'd been tricking him from the beginning. Goro closes his eyes. "So that must have been part of _his_ plan… I'm curious, how long had you known that I was planning to betray you?"

Ryuji gives him a long look. "Dude. You literally walked up to us at the school festival and blackmailed us. Were we just supposed to go along with everything you wanted us to do?"

When he says it like that… It does seem a little foolish of him, doesn't it?

Ryuji shakes his head and closes his eyes. "Man, I really don't get you at all, y'know? Jeez, you're so…"

He trails off, and starts walking in the general direction of the Casino, ending the conversation. Goro takes the hint.

…For a while, at least.

"What did you mean by that?"

Ryuji glances over, slowing down a little bit. "Huh?"

"Indulge me for a minute. What were you about to say, just now?" Goro's honestly curious.

"Are you for real? This ain't the time for that! This place is still dangerous as hell, we gotta keep an eye out!"

"It's a good twenty minutes to walk to the courthouse, barring the appearance of more Shadows. And I am perfectly capable of listening and keeping watch at the same time, you know." Goro smiles again.

Ryuji makes a face.

"Ugh, fine." He points at Goro's face. "That! That _right there_. That's what I was talking about!"

"Pardon?"

"Your whole…" Ryuji gestures at Goro. "You're so— the way you act genuinely confused whenever someone flat out disagrees with you or whatever. Like, ain't that the entire reason you zeroed in on Akira in the first place? That's so _weird_."

" People disagree with me all the time— you did, when we first met. I certainly didn't single _you_ out." Goro points out.

"Well yeah, but you think I'm stupid. Don't even try to pretend you don't, you’ve literally said it to my face." Ryuji shrugs Goro's counterpoint off easily. "Which, okay. I'm not smart, and I know that. And that's why I don't get you! You always act like you're the smartest person in the room, and that nobody should question you 'cept for people you want to question you. But you aren't always the best! And you can't accept that. That’s your problem."

"Akira—"

Ryuji throws his hands up in the air. "Akira this, Akira that, what are the rest of us to you even? He wasn't even the one who came up with the plan to fake his own death! Makoto, Morgana, and Futaba did most of the work. You got outsmarted by a student council president, a cat, and a NEET!"

He sighs, and lowers his voice again. "You really think that you have to do everything yourself, and you don't trust anybody. That's…" Ryuji looks away. "It's gotta be so lonely in your head. And I can't understand it at _all_."

He falls silent, and Goro can't come up with a single thing to say. They continue onto the courthouse with a slightly awkward atmosphere between them. Goro keeps one eye on their surroundings, but he can't stop thinking about the things that Ryuji said.

He's never really considered himself lonely, before. Nobody had really wanted to be friends with the "depressing weird orphan kid", after all. And later on, when people _had_ wanted to be his friends, they were mostly just interested in using his fame for their own purposes. So… Ryuji's at least partially right. Goro _has_ been keeping everyone at arm's length his whole life. It's not as if he's ever had the chance to act any differently, though.

(The Phantom Thieves would have helped you. They _offered_ to help, even after all you'd done to them.)

…absolutely ridiculous. That's not— It wasn’t— he should be focusing on the Shadows, actually, the conversation was just a random flight of fancy anyways. Yes.

If he's a bit more vicious than usual in his attacks on Shadows that get in their way, well, Ryuji doesn't say anything.

There are a few stragglers here and there, but it's nothing like the deluge of yesterday. They're easily avoided. It's hard to tell time without any light or working watches, so it's hard to tell how long they've been walking. Goro knows these streets fairly well, though. That low, flat building over there should be the Ministry of Finance, so one more corner and—

Goro comes to an abrupt halt, as his heart sinks.

Ryuji bumps into his back. "Ack, don't just stop in the middle of the road like that!"

Goro ignores him. "Something's wrong."

"What, whaddya— ohhhh shit."

"That's what I should be saying. I thought you said you didn't steal the treasure!" Goro hisses at Ryuji.

Ryuji glares back."We didn't!"

Then how," Goro gestures at the dark and dilapidated casino looming ominously in front of them, a shell of it's former glory, "do you explain this?!?"

"I dunno? It ain't exploding or anything, so maybe… something's happened to Makoto's sis in the real world?"

Goro frowns. "Was she alright, last you saw her?"

"Well, yeah. Wasn't sick or anything." Ryuji eyes the Palace warily. "We going inside, or…?"

Goro hesitates before answering. "We still need information. And like you said, it _seems_ structurally sound. There's something going on here that I don't think we can walk away from. If there really is something wrong, and we ignored it…" He trails off.

Ryuji swears under his breath, and tightens his grip on his metal bat. "Dammit. Shoulda guessed you were gonna say that."

"We should stick close together inside, Skull."

"Yeah, I get you. Don't need to tell me twice."

* * *

 

It's quiet inside. At the risk of sounding cliché, it's _too_ quiet. The lights are mostly off, and Goro's footsteps echo eerily on the tiled floor. If he had to draw a comparison, it was as if he was walking through a museum after it had closed down for the night.

"I can't see real well in here but… don't you think this place looks kinda different?" Ryuji whispers. It echoes loudly in the massive foyer, and Goro shoots Ryuji a look.

Ryuji rolls his eyes and starts gesturing at their surroundings, silently. Goro frowns, and takes a closer look. The place… it _does_ look far more like the inside of the courthouse than the Palace he remembered. No slot machines to be seen, for one thing. Hell, he could probably even find Sae's office in this place.

…Actually, that wasn't a bad idea. Her office, after all, would be where her cognition was the strongest, and it would therefore be the best place for the two of them to go. He taps Ryuji on the shoulder, and points him up the stairs. At the very least, it would be a start.

In no time at all, the two of them are standing in front of a plain door with a brass nameplate. There are two names on it, but only one is readable. _Sae Niijima_.

Goro reaches up and gently knocks on the door. Ryuji looks at him strangely.

"You don't need to knock on the door, dude. Who do you think is gonna answer?" He gestures at the dim hallway behind them. "This place is freakin' deserted."

Goro shrugs. "It's a force of habit. I've been working here for months, after all."

"Well, I guess? Sure you ain't just stalling, though?"

"I'm not _scared_ , if that's what you're implying. Like you said, there's nobody here—”

And of course, this is when someone answers the door.

" **Well,** " Sae-san— no, _Shadow_ Sae says, with narrowed yellow eyes. **"This is unexpected.** "

Ryuji yelps and scrambles back, as Goro stares in shock. He'd thought— it wasn't wearing that black dress, or the ridiculous hat. If it hadn't had the typical poison-yellow eyes of all Shadows, it would have simply been the spitting image of Prosecutor Niijima, immaculately dressed in a pressed suit as always.

" **Goro Akechi, as I live and breathe.** " It— _she_ drawls out sarcastically. " **And the other one, too. What are you doing here?** "

"Looking for you, of course." Goro replies cautiously. "What happened here?"

" **Coming to me for information? That's bold of you, considering your _betrayal_.** " Goro tenses, and the Shadow notices it. She smirks at him.

" **No need to look** **scared** **, boy, you're in luck today. I think that we can come to a mutually beneficial agreement, hmmm? We'll talk more in my office.** " She turns and goes back into the room, clearly expecting the two of them to follow. Goro can't help but glance over his shoulder at Ryuji.

They don't really have much of a choice, do they?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey... im back! have a frankly ludicrously long chapter, lol, i can't pace for shiiiiiit.  
> what did yall think of the reveal this chapter? hehehe, i've been hinting at shadow sae's appearance to one of my friends but they didn't guess right so >:3c  
> listen. you know that ryuji and goro anthology comic? ive been all over that shit for weeks, yo. ryuji and goro are good together!! they have so much potential!!!! im YELLING CONSTANTLY,  
> anyways, this is where shit starts to veer a lil bit into headcanon territory, i hope yall enjoy the ride!


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